Disgraced builder fronts court over fraud charges

A dodgy builder has left his former friend with an incomplete house and stress after he told them it was built and took the money.

Sabashan Manmatharajah left a friend and his wife with an incomplete house after fraudulently obtaining $275,000 from their mortgagee.

A dodgy builder has narrowly escaped prison for falsely claiming $275,000 in part payments from a bank without completing the build for a friend.

Sabashan Manmatharajah was sentenced to three years community corrections order after pleading guilty to charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

The 60-year-old was a registered builder and the sole director of Oviya Homes Pty Ltd which has, since his offending, gone into liquidation.

Manmatharajah’s deception left his friend and his wife with an incomplete house and in considerable psychological, physical and financial problems.

He and the couple were part of the Sri Lankan community in Melbourne and the husband of the couple went to school with Manmatharajah in Sri Lanka.

They fled to settle in Australia due to civil war in their country of birth.

Disgraced builder Sabashan Manmatharajah dubiously obtained $275,000 from Westpac by falsely claiming he’d completed sections of his friend’s house.

The victims paid him $467,500 to complete the build and were forced to pay a replacement builder a further $308,000, which meant their home ended up costing them $775,500.

They’ve also had to pay about $43,000 for an extra 18 months rent while the actual build went ahead.

In September 2018, Manmantharajah sent Westpac a request to transfer $192,500 by providing false information that the construction had been completed up to lockup stage.

Three months later, he sent the bank a request of $82,500.

The Victoria Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) became aware of the situation and the matter was reported to police.

Manmatharajah blamed his offending on cash flow problems which ultimately resulted in his business becoming insolvent at which stage he had 30 homes under construction.

Judge Frances Hogan said integrity of a high order was necessary when one dealt with hundreds of thousands of dollars of precious savings which went into a crucial asset like a home.

“You were not open and frank towards your long-term friend and have breached the trust that he and his wife reposed in you and caused them great emotional suffering and financial hardship,” she said.

Before his guilty pleas, Manmatharajah maintained that his victims had given him authorisation to alter the invoices and submit the request for their payment to Westpac.

Judge Hogan said this was patently false, and both victims were put through cross-examination, as was their replacement builder and VMIA.